Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

George Miller re-visits his oil-soaked franchise with another brutal, female-dominated action film.

“Furiosa” backs up, fills in the blanks and does a solid job of giving its title character a history that answers questions that its predecessor left in the dust.

While it has you in its grip initially, it gradually loses its way amid marauding tribes, lynch mobs and innumerable chases through the sand dunes on souped-up vehicles. There are moments that take your breath away but don't add up to pack in a wallop.

This script should have been released first. It would've elevated Fury Road... The dynamic here is reversed, though this is still a very good film.

Nothing could ever be Fury Road, but if you want the spectacle and a reason to go back to theaters this summer, this is a great one.

If Furiosa had been a standalone, it would be considered an incredible feat, but as the fifth instalment, it doesn’t evolve on the spectacle we’ve already seen in Fury Road.

Furiosa breaks away from Max Rockatansky’s redemption story, allowing Miller to explore similarly complimentary perspectives in the wasteland, while also delving into darker, more provocative places that our Road Warrior hadn’t yet trod.

His films always get at these heady themes with aplomb and there’s little here that doesn’t expand and enhance his Mad Max universe.

Organizing the chaos of the wasteland’s warring gangs around the exploitation of water and gas and bullets, Miller gives us an easy-to-read allegory about the inevitable destruction brought on by capitalism that is unchecked by conscience.

Impressive in certain areas and overabundant in others, it takes an intriguing premise and hits the snooze button. Action scenes dazzle and there's some climactic tension near the end, but all in all a movie that promised more than it delivered.